Topic: What makes a great digital IC?

[lds490]

I'm building new ICs for my system and am wondering about digital cables.

Do digital cables make a sonic impact?  Which is better: optical (toslink) or coaxial?  Any other considerations for constructing digital cables?

[udovdh]

Just get nice 75 ohm coaxial cable with 75 ohm connectors, etc.
For short distances bad wire will do, for longer distances some quality is required.
I once used a normal headphone cable...

Cable induced jitter etc is no issue with a decent design.

[Daryan]

UMM, that's just horrible advice.     I once used toothfloss for toilet paper, didn't make it a good idea though it might have worked had I spent that much time wiping my ass.

Any well made cable is going to do wonders for your digital signal.  I can hear the difference between the cheap crappy orange radio shack cable and ANY well made cable.  Pick a budget and run with it.  100 bucks should do you very well. 

Audioquest, nordost, Bolder, etc will suffice.  Check out the ice cable from Bolder, it should do well within the 100 dollar pricerange.  Cryotweaks, or tweakgeek.com I think it is now, had cheap cryoyed digital cable for $35.00 a couple months ago that sounded great.  I have one and use it still!

D~

[lds490]

The Tweakgeek.com cable for $25 looks like a good deal. but I am making my own.  I can Make a DIY cable for a lot less money.  I've got good quality wire and RCA connectors.  My question is whether my DIY version will be better than the inexpensive optical and coaxial cables that I currently use.  In general, is coaxial cable (RCA) better or worse than optical (toslink)?  I understand how cables can affect analog performance, but I have trouble seeing how a digital signal is influenced by the cable.

[BobW]

If the cable is under 6 feet, the thinnest 75ohm coax is all you'll need, imho.
My buddy who wires soundboards will use a twisted pair stripped from CAT5 cable on internal runs of 12 feet or less for AES/BEU.
I see that as extreme, but he is sure that it has no sonic effects.

FWIW, a twisted pair is approximately 70 to 110 ohms, depending on wire gauge, insulation thickness, and twists-per-inch.
Right on the money for the intended purpose.

If you want overkill, use RG-59 type ! Thick, low-loss 72 ohm cable
I use Belden 1855A, thin cable, cheap and quite effective.

FWIW, my buddy and his twisted pair will tell you that you cannot hear digital cable unless you spin it very fast in the air.
Think about it, it is passing a datastream to a PLL reclock. The clock and error correction algorithms will overtake
all but the most gross errors. And on those, it should declare an error.
I am prone to agree with him, but I accept that others have differing opinions.

[nickgregory]

FWIW, my buddy and his twisted pair will tell you that you cannot hear digital cable unless you spin it very fast in the air.
Think about it, it is passing a datastream to a PLL reclock. The clock and error correction algorithms will overtake
all but the most gross errors. And on those, it should declare an error.
I am prone to agree with him, but I accept that others have differing opinions.

see this makes logical sense to me.  I think that reaching the area of diminishing returns with regards to digital cables happens pretty quickly.

[live2496]

The Tweakgeek.com cable for $25 looks like a good deal. but I am making my own.  I can Make a DIY cable for a lot less money.  I've got good quality wire and RCA connectors.  My question is whether my DIY version will be better than the inexpensive optical and coaxial cables that I currently use.  In general, is coaxial cable (RCA) better or worse than optical (toslink)?  I understand how cables can affect analog performance, but I have trouble seeing how a digital signal is influenced by the cable.

The only reason to use toslink over coaxial might be to avoid any ground loop interferance caused by two interconnected devices. This should only be an issue if each device is grounded at different electrical outlets a good distance from each other.


Gordon

[goose]

UMM, that's just horrible advice.     I once used toothfloss for toilet paper, didn't make it a good idea though it might have worked had I spent that much time wiping my ass.

D~

Are you really trying to get "back to zero" with those type of comments?  Good luck.

[Daryan]

I was in a HORRIBLE sick mood, my apologies for my comment, which I thought was kind of funny at the time.

[cshepherd]

Optical cables should only be used as a last/only option.  Toslink cables do not have the signal integrity of spdif cables.  I would agree that $100 should do the job nicely when looking to buy spdif IC.  There was an optical cable shootout in a british hi-fi magazine (Hi-Fi Choice) not too long ago.  The only optical cable that stood out from the pack was the Van den Hul Opto-Coupler.  Basically, the magazine said to use a Toslink connection only if you have to...and use the Opto-Coupler to do the job.

Chris
Eugene Hi-Fi
Eugene, Ore.

disclaimer:  authorized dealer for Van den Hul products

[Daryan]

I have found, in limited use with a modified dvd player, that glass optical sounded pretty good to my ears.

Regards

D~